Improvement in wood pavements



W. H STOW. Wood-Pavement.

No. 208,436. Pte'nted Sept. 24,1878.

IHHIW Wv'inwses I N. FEIERS, PHOTO-LITROGRAPHER, WASHINGTON DKL UNITED STATES PATENT OEEIoE.

\VILLIAM H. STOW, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

IMPROVEMENT IN WOOD PAVEMENTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 208,436, dated September 24, 1878 application filed July 25, 1878.

To -71 Whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM H. STow, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in \Vood Pavements; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Pavements have been laid heretofore with hard igid base andtop course of well-seasoned short and thin blocks, placed closely in contact with each other and cemented together by asphaltum, in which the blocks are dipped; but while such pavements possess advantages over the ordinary wood pavements of spaced rows of blocks placed on yielding foundations, still they are expensive to lay, and soon wear out, on account of the extreme smallness of the blocks, making them liable to split and costly to handle.

The object, therefore, I have in view is to produce a wood pavement having the blocks placed close together without spaces between the rows, which will be cheap to construct and durable in wear, and will not decay.

My invention therein consists in an elastic wood pavement composed of a yielding or flexible base or foundation, such as earth covered with sand, a board or plank flooring, and a top course of long thin blocks sawed from green lumber, dipped in tar or cement, and placed close together in rows without spaces between the rows, the whole being covered by tar or cement and fine gravel.

In the drawings, Figure -1 is a top view of the pavement, showing the different courses, and Fig. 2 a vertical cross-section of a portion of the same.

The roadway is prepared for my pavement by bringing it to the proper grade and then covering it with sand, fine gravel, or sandy loam. This forms an elastic or yielding foundation, A.

Upon the sand is laid aboard flooring, B, composed, preferably, of one-inch boards, placed so as to break joints; but it may be made of two or three inch planks.

The blocks 0 are sawed from boards or planks one or two inches thick, the blocks being cut about six inches in length, that being the vertical height of the blocks when laid upon the board flooring.

The long blocks, which are rectangular, are dipped in tar or cement a depth of two or three inches, and are laid in regular rows across the street upon the board flOOl ing, the blocks being pressed close together, so that they will touch, and so that the tar or cement will unite, forming essentially one mass.

The blocks may be immersed in and covered completely with the tar or cement, and laid when dry; but I prefer the way first described.

The blocks, after being laid, are first covered with tar or cement, which fills all the narrow crevices, and then with fine gravel, when the pavement is ready for use.

The long and thin blocks of my pavement being made of green stuff and placed close together do not decay. The pavement also is cheap to construct, and, being elastic throughout, is durable and easy to the feet of horses. The rows of blocks being laid without spaces between them, the pavement is smoother than wood pavements generally, and consequently more pleasant to ride over.

hat I claim as my invention is- The elastic wood pavement described, consisting of the yielding foundation, a board flooring, and a top course of long and thin blocks sawed from green lumber, dipped in tar or cement, and laid without spaces between the rows, the blocks being covered with tar or cement and fine gravel, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 8th day of July, 1878.

WILLIAM H. STOW.

IVitnesses GEO. T. PITKIN, J. E. WOODMAN. 

